COMMERCE >> Security videos obtained by this news organization show Central Basin Municipal Water District Director Art Chacon behind the wheel of a Mercedes he drove on district property earlier this month.

Chacon, who hasn’t had a driver’s license since 2003, was recently censured by the board. He has come under fire for receiving a $597 monthly car allowance — even though he can’t legally drive.

Gil Aguirre, a San Gabriel Valley open-government activist, said Thursday he’s disturbed that district officials know Chacon is driving, but refuse to act.

“(They) have put the ratepayer in a position where they’ve got tremendous liability and could end up having to pay a huge cost if Chacon were to get into an accident, injure somebody while driving illegally and they’re aware of it,” Aguirre said.

The security videos from Rio Hondo pumping station on San Gabriel River Parkway were captured in the afternoon of Aug. 10.

One 10-minute video shows a black 2003 Mercedes, which is registered to Chacon’s neighbor in Commerce, pull up to a spot between the pump and an out-building on the property. Chacon gets out of the driver’s side. Several other people including a child also exit the vehicle, which has a current registration sticker.

Another security video from the location, which was taken about 10 minutes later, shows Chacon and civilian members of his group enter a restricted area at the facility.

Director James Roybal said civilians are not allowed around the pumps, because of the danger it presents to them and the community at large.

“It shows a total lack of responsibility on the part of the director and staff,” he said.

Roybal said the pumping station houses millions worth of equipment and sensitive controls that could have been damaged or moved in a way that would have shut the pumping station down.

One 10-minute security video from the site shows members of Chacon’s group climbing on a tower that puts a chlorine solution into the water, which is pumped to the district’s recycled water customers.

The red stop button for the pumps is about waist high.

“To stop the pump, all you do is push the red button,” said Roybal. “Someone could have pushed that button, and we don’t know what might have happened.

“Just to put the district in this kind of position where this kind of disaster or injury could have happened is incomprehensible,” he said.

The Central Basin Water District is a water wholesaler. It purchases water from the Metropolitan Water District and sells it to retail water agencies in southeastern Los Angeles County.

First elected in 2006, Chacon represents a district that includes Bell, Commerce, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Maywood, unincorporated Walnut Park, Vernon, portions of Monterey Park and East Los Angeles. Many of those communities have been the center of corruption scandals in recent years.

Chacon declined to comment on the videos. He claims to have a valid driver’s license.

For several days, including Thursday, Chacon has not been at an address in Commerce where voter registration documents say he resides. On Thursday the Mercedes in the videos was blocking a driveway at the house.

In an email, Joe Legaspi, district spokesman, said Chacon has provided the district proof of a driver’s license. Legaspi has denied several requests for a copy of the license.

Although Chacon is driving without a license, law enforcement couldn’t stop him unless he broke another law, said Sgt. Carmen Arballo of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau.

“He would need to violate the law to where we have a reason to pull over,” Arballo said.

A driver without a license would need to do something like running a red light or roll through a stop sign before they could be pulled over, she said.

Chacon, 48, of Commerce, has come under fire for receiving a $597 monthly car allowance despite not having a driver’s license. He has received nearly $50,000 from the stipend since he was elected in 2006.

DMV officials say he hasn’t had a license since Sept. 30, 2003.

Legaspi defended paying Chacon’s auto allowance.

“Per the district policy, the allowance is a benefit conferred to all directors, providing the district proof a license is not a requirement of receiving the benefit,” Legaspi wrote.

Legaspi said there are times when non-employees are allowed at the pump station as part of a tour. He was uncertain what the Chacon visit was about.

“We do have director tours,” Legaspi said. “I’m not aware of any damage to the pump station.”

Director James Roybal said he was “outraged” that Chacon would be driving on district property.

“If he were to get into an accident on our property or going to or from a district function, I think that leaves us liable because we are aware he’s driving without a license and without insurance,” said Roybal.

Director Leticia Vasquez said the videos are “telling.”

“I’m shocked, but I’m not surprised,” Vasquez said. “It’s just another example of his illegal and improper behavior that has cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

In addition, to the nearly $50,000 Chacon has received from the auto allowance since his election in 2006, the district earlier this year agreed to pay $16,000 to a woman injured in a car accident in which a license-less Chacon was declared at fault.

Chacon also received $63,000 in workers’ compensation payments for injuries he allegedly suffered in the accident.

Court records show that Chacon has convictions for driving without a license or driving with a suspended license in 1994, 1997 and 2011.

In 1994, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge found Chacon guilty of driving under the influence, operating with a suspended license and possession of a controlled substance.

A $30,000 bench warrant was issued in May 2013 for Chacon when he was a no-show for a probation hearing on the 2011 conviction for driving under the influence. It was later quashed.

A judge revoked the warrant after Central Basin’s attorney Arnold Alvarez-Glasman appeared on Chacon’s behalf in September. Last month the Central Basin voted 3-2 to make Alvarez-Glasman the district’s counsel. Chacon was the deciding vote.

Alvarez-Glasman appeared on Chacon’s behalf in the Bellflower courtroom of Judge Richard M. Goul. Alvarez-Glasman has acknowledged representing Chacon, but has declined to say when, where or for what purpose.

Central Basin a water wholesaler, has been under increased scrutiny since receiving a subpoena from the FBI as part of the investigation into former state Assemblyman Tom Calderon, D-Montebello. Calderon had a $12,000 monthly consulting contract with Central Basin until February 2013.

Calderon and his brother, Ron, a state senator, now face charges of money-laundering and bribery, respectively, in a massive federal corruption case.

Mike Sprague started at the Whittier Daily News in April 1984. Since then, Sprague has covered every city in the Whittier Daily News circulation area, as well as political and water issues. Sprague received a bachelor's degree in communications and a master's degree in political science, both from Cal State Fullerton.

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